Thanks Sandy. I keep the wild bird food in the greenhouse and I dropped it all over the floor so Rose and Vi had they cheeky little eyes on it. Can't feed the birds without throwing those two a handful. I think I spoil them too much. Keep thinking I must cut down on their treats for their own good but they know exactly what they want and how to wrap me around their little dinosaur toes. By the way, has anyone heard from Amber. She has not posted for a while and I wondered how she and her girls are doing? Hope everyone's flocks are well and enjoying the long days.

Hello Cheshire chick.Thank you for asking after me. I have been reading the posts in between lessons but i have not had time to reply or post until now.The girls are well and enjoying this nice weather. Roxy has still not made up her mind to be broody or not. As soon as anyone goes into the nest box to lay she follows and lays on the eggs all puffed up. She is not aggressive when i go to remove them and comes out a little while after, she is still laying every day herself.Rosie has taken a disliking to Sable our black lab, every time she gets close to her she puffs up, wings down and charges at her. Sable is as soft as a brush and loves the girls so just backs up and runs inside.My other Lab is off to the vets on Thursday to have a lump on her Lymph gland near her shoulder removed, so fingers crossed it is nothing to worry about (but i will anyway ).I hope yours and everyone's girls and boys are doing well.Amber.

Nice to hear from you Amber. Glad you and your girls are well. Good luck when your dog goes for his/her operation. Worrying time for you, but I'm sure he/she will be fine afterwards and back to normal in no time. It's me that goes to pieces when I have to take the animals to the vets!! Hope all goes well.

amber66 wrote:Hello Cheshire chick.Thank you for asking after me. I have been reading the posts in between lessons but i have not had time to reply or post until now.The girls are well and enjoying this nice weather. Roxy has still not made up her mind to be broody or not. As soon as anyone goes into the nest box to lay she follows and lays on the eggs all puffed up. She is not aggressive when i go to remove them and comes out a little while after, she is still laying every day herself.Rosie has taken a disliking to Sable our black lab, every time she gets close to her she puffs up, wings down and charges at her. Sable is as soft as a brush and loves the girls so just backs up and runs inside.My other Lab is off to the vets on Thursday to have a lump on her Lymph gland near her shoulder removed, so fingers crossed it is nothing to worry about (but i will anyway ).I hope yours and everyone's girls and boys are doing well.Amber.

I now have two broody girls. Hamble, the Barnevelder, in particular is Rabin mad. She puffs up, growls and pecks when I lift her from the nest box. She also chases my cats; literally sprints after them, wings flapping.

Well my girls are much too hot at the moment. Luckily though their coop and run is in the shade at the bottom of the garden and I do have a dark roof over their run. They have 3 dishes of fresh water dotted about and I gave them some frozen peas before I came to work to try to cool them down. When I get home I bet they will still be walking around with their beaks open. I haven't seen them with their wings open .. yet .. that's when I know they are really hot. So all in all there's not much more I can do. It's amazing how they can stand the winter cold better than this heatwave we are having at the moment. I get up early in the mornings so I let them out in the garden while I am cleaning the coop and refilling food and water dishes as it is still relatively cool. Even though they will be hot when I get home from work they will still want to come out into the garden but I am leaving them in their shaded area while it is this warm. Two of my cats don't know what to do with themselves and are trying to find a cool place in the house to collapse in (they don't like it at all). Our rescue cat, however, keeps asking to go out, he seems to love it. Our cats are house cats so we only let them in the garden when we are with them so I have been in and out all morning with Oscar!! It's funny but if there is a spot of rain he will run straight in. He doesn't like to get wet but I suppose from his past experiences he has had enough of being soaked through - bless. Hope everyones girls and boys are coping with the heat.

Rose and Violet had a lot of garden time on Saturday afternoon and they loved it. On Sunday I decided to clean one of their tables that they like to sit on in their run. I usually just sponge them down but I thought I would take it out to hose down as it was fairly dirty with dried droppings. I cleaned the table and put it back in their run, in exactly the same spot for them to sit on. Well, would they go near it ... no way. They spent all Sunday afternoon in the other side of their run as far away from it as possible. I opened their door to let them out into the garden on Sunday afternoon and they would not even come near the door to get out as it meant getting just a little nearer to the table. Couldn't believe it, "play out" time is their favourite thing to do, but they must have been so spooked because I had moved their table. This morning I threw some mealworms into the other side of their run and they begrudgingly went over to eat them. I lifted both of them onto the table (which however is their favourite table to sit on out of the two of them) and they jumped off and that was it - back to the other side. Funny, funny girls. Probably be back to normal tomorrow. Thought they might have forgotten about it after a good sleep last night, so it just goes to show how much they remember things. Crazy creatures - but I love them.

It looks exactly the same colour, just a bit cleaner. Today, however, they are braving it into the other side of the run. Not been on the table just yet, but they probably will do soon. I have put things in before now to try to keep them amused and they will have none of it. I found a big log a couple of weeks ago which I thought would be perfect for them to perch on - they just give it a wide berth!! Funny girls.

Can't believe it's been so long since I updated my diary. We've been rolling along quite nicely for the last couple of weeks (long may it last). Rose and Violet have been getting up a bit later in the mornings, after they have both "done" their eggs. Every morning there are two warm eggs for me in their nesting box - bless. We enjoy their eggs and they also get their share of scrambled eggs as well. I scramble with the eggshell (for added calcium) pop in microwave for 2 mins and when cool give to the girls - they love their scrambled egg. I do think, however, that they have too many treats but it is so hard not to spoil them and they always eat their pellets up as well so perhaps I should stop worrying so much. They will both be fed up today as they have to be locked up as I do a full day at work on a Friday. As soon as I get home I will let them out. I don't feel too guilty though when the weather is not good - like today. Really hoping for a nice weekend here in Stockport so they can have their garden time (and I can have my garden time to). Hope everyone is well (and all critters to). Have a lovely weekend all.

Hi everyone - Hope you and yours are all OK and enjoying the summer weather (at last). It's worming week this week for Rose and Violet. I never look forward to this as I don't like cutting out all their treats. They still have their greens and a few mealworms though. Problem being that they don't seem to eat them up as much as their normal layers pellets. Anyway I will persevere but can't stand the thought of them being hungry. I have in the past taken to putting some boneless sardines in tomato sauce over them. Does everyone else use Flubenvet pellets? I would much rather give them a dose of wormer and have it over and done with but Panacur or similar is hard to get hold of (usually from vets I presume) and Flub pellets seems to be the thing to do.

Hi SD and thanks for your reply. Glad that someone else doesn't forgo the treats as well!!! I am much too soft with Rose and Vi but I reckon that a few treats won't do that much harm and although they are not that keen on the Flub pellets I have noticed that they are being eaten so I'll use the bag up (which will only take the rest of the week anyway). Sunshine in Stockport now so girls are out dust bathing. I must say dust bathing keeps them occupied and quiet. They are very vocal these days (since big sister Mary went) and are constantly shouting for my attention (or treats) whenever they see me (even through the kitchen window). I definitely am "Mother Hen".